How to Get Your Significant Other On Board with Prepping

We all know that not every significant other is thrilled about prepping. This is one of those activities that unfortunately is an acquired taste. I can tell you that my wife was greatly opposed to my prepping and survival hobby when I first got started.

However, there are ways to gradually gain the favor of your S.O. Now my wife very much appreciates my prepping efforts, and she even pitches in from time to time. In this article, I will cover ways that you can get your significant other on board with your prepping efforts.

#1 Do not spend money right away! – When you first get started with prepping, one of the biggest concerns that your significant other might have is the cost. I can only imagine that my wife’s first thought was that we would be spending thousands of dollars on ammunition, food storage, and maybe even an underground bunker.

However, when I got started I was very careful to control my spending. I focused almost entirely on learning skills by reading articles and watching instructional videos.

I also spent time practicing techniques in our back yard. I made sure that she saw the hard work I was putting into prepping, and did not spend a penny for several months. Then when I did spend money, I waited until there was something she wanted to buy for herself. When she got a new lens for her camera, I made sure my purchase was of equal or lesser value. I have held to this strategy for years and it has worked well.

#2 Find ways to get them involved – While my wife was not thrilled about learning to start a fire or build a shelter, I was creative in finding ways to get her involved. When my son and I do camping trips to test out our gear, she makes treats and snacks for us. She also takes pictures and videos of our activities as she loves photography and cinematography. In addition, I thought of ways to get her involved with aspects of prepping that might interest her.

She had never fired a gun, so I let her invite her brother over and they got to try firing all my guns. She was interested in archery, so I let her try out my compound bow. Little by little, she has started to enjoy some of my prepping.

#3 Focus on family safety – Every significant other is concerned with the safety of the family. In all reality, most of the prepping we do is to protect our family. When you show them how prepping is related to safety, they are instantly more inclined to support you. Once they see prepping projects in the same light as installing a smoke alarm or a security system, you will have their ongoing support.

#4 Emphasize small emergencies – If you go into prepping talking about earthquakes and martial law, chances are your significant other will give you some strange looks and think you are nuts. However, if you start by talking about building a kit for vehicle breakdowns they will be more accepting.

Think about the ‘little’ emergencies that people face every day. These include power outages, vehicle breakdowns, house fires, flooding, and break-ins. These are all very possible scenarios for which you should prepare, and your significant other will likely be on your side with these.

#5 Help them before yourself – When you start working on prepping projects, find ways to specifically focus your project on your significant other. For example, if you are going to put together a winter kit for vehicles put one in your S.O.’s vehicle first. If you are going to build an EDC kit, put one together for them before you build one for yourself.

If you are going to stockpile some preserved foods, ask them what they like and do those food first. By putting the emphasis on them, they will be much less likely to push back against your prepping.

#6 Discuss each purchase in advance – The absolute worst thing you can do when prepping with a significant other is to start sneaking in purchases that they do not know about. They will catch you eventually, and when they do they will shut you down quickly. You need complete transparency with any aspect of prepping that costs money. This way you can adjust your purchases if there are any financial concerns.

There have been times that I was planning a large purchase of several items. After speaking with my wife, we agreed that I would break it up into three smaller purchases in the next few weeks. She was fine with this arrangement, and appreciated that I spoke to her first.

#7 Do not talk about prepping constantly – I personally tend to obsess on prepping and survival subjects. When I do this, it ends up being the only topic of discussion between my wife and me. She gets sick of hearing about terrorist attacks and mudslides very quickly. She has gotten to the point where she will snap and tell me to not bring up those subjects. You are best to save those conversations for your other prepper friends.

#8 Give it time – The longer I have worked as a prepper and survivalist, the more my wife has accepted my dedication. At first, she pushed back thinking it might just be a phase.

When she started to see how dedicated I was, she realized that this aspect of our lives was not going anywhere. When that acceptance happened, things got much easier. Be patient and understanding. Eventually your significant other will come around.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that prepping is not a focus that most people find ‘normal’. It takes some adjustment to get your significant other on board with something like this. Keep their needs in mind, tone it down a bit, and gradually ease them into the prepping mindset. A significant other can be a huge asset to your prepping efforts once you win them over. It is worth the time and effort to do it right.

1 comment

TiminspokaneFebruary 1, 2018 - 7:19 pm

Good article! My wife thought I was going a little crazy until two things happened that changed her mind. First, up here in the Great American Redoubt, a few years ago we had a massive wind storm that knocked out power to about 180,000 people in our area. Us? I fired up that woodstove I installed, and we kept plenty toasty. We could cook on the gas range that I installed when we did a kitchen remodel. My two small Honda generators were more than enough to keep some lights on, since we didn’t need power for heat or to cook. We also didn’t lose ANY food from the fridge or freezer, unlike most people, and I had plenty of fuel on hand to keep the gennies running for weeks. And, we had plenty of food and water on hand. We came out of it fine. What really got her a little more excited was that when our power was back on, we were able to loan out a few things to help some friends out who still were without power and heat – and this was in the winter when night time lows were in the high teens and low 20’s. We could have been burdens on others. Instead, we were blessings to others. The second thing that got her attention were the state and federal Cascadia Rising drills here in Washington State, which involved FEMA and other organizations simulating a 9.0 quake (which is decades overdue) hitting the Seattle area. My wife is a manager at a local hospital in the Spokane area, and everyone knows that Spokane would be inundated with injured people and refugees if/when that megaquake hits. Anyway, during the windstorm, our hospitals quickly learned that they were ill prepared for a disaster like that. They ran out of diesel for their generators in about 24 hours, and many electronic records systems were unavailable. The hospitals made some big, and excellent, changes to their emergency management procedures. Then, the next summer, was the federal Cascadia Rising drill. She was in charge of a large part of it at her hospital, and by gleaning things I had been talking about, combined with the experience from the wind storm, she quickly understood what the needs were and helped the hospital to make substantial changes to get prepared. My point is, even smaller events, like wide spread power outages, or boil water orders (we have had three of those in our area in the last year!), show the practical importance of being prepared. Those two events got my wife on board 100%, even though she doesn’t actively participate in much of it here at the house. But, she supports it fully and just smiles when I tell her about a new project I want to work on. LOL